Markets are weak again this morning as the hoped for economic and profit turnaround appears to be keeping its distance.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down 33 points to 7,610.

Volume is weak again today at 53.3 million shares, with sellers holding a two to one edge on buyers. Losers are outnumbering winners nine to seven.

Strange bedfellows though they may be, mines and techs are leading the way down today. Mining stocks have dropped another 4% on weak profits and weaker outlooks. Techs are down about 2.5% on similar concerns. Oils and utilities are weak. too.

Although none of the other slides are dramatic, there’s little movement on the upside to combat the weakness. Golds, paper stocks and merchandisers are seeing gains. Financials are also up a touch after the Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 25 basis points this morning.

With little else to do today, traders have resumed their corporal punishment of Alcan. The stock is down another 5% today, dragging down the mining group single-handedly. Yesterday’s poor results are the reason.

Techs are the other big source of weakness, as usual. Nortel Networks is leading the way down, off another 2.5%. It is joined by slides in Celestica, C-MAC, Research in Motion, and Sierra Wireless. Other losers include CP, Enserco Energy Service, Rio Alto and Utility Corp.

On the upside, Weston is strong-arming stocks higher. The retailer has gained 4.6% in active trading. Otherwise, it’s a mixed bag, with winners including, Siebel, Rogers Wireless, Caribbean Utilities, QLT, Agnico Eagle, Decoma, MDS and Finning.

Apart from Royal Bank, most financials are making gains in the wake of this morning’s rate cuts. All the major banks are cutting their lending rates in response. Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia are leading the trading higher. Guardian Capital is also making gains.

In business news, InfoInteractive’s shareholders have approved its acquisition by America Online Inc. at a meeting in Halifax today. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, AOL will acquire all of the outstanding shares of InfoInteractive for US$1.42 each. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions including court approval, is expected to close later this week.

Spar Aerospace will be added to the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Composite, TSE 300 Capped, Standard & Poor’s/TSE Canadian SmallCap and TSE 200 Indices after the close of trading today.

In earnings news, the Jean Coutu Group Inc. reports that for the 12-month period ended May 31, its overall revenues amounted to $2.925 billion, compared with $2.578 billion for the same period last year. Net earnings were $105.9 million, or 98¢ a share, an increase of 22.9% over the net earnings of 82¢ a share for the same period last year.

In New York, the trading has been choppy. This morning’s down open on profit worries has been erased for the most part, with bargain hunting in biotechs and oil service stocks taking up some of the slack.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 34 points at midday to 10,506. The Nasdaq composite index is down three points to 2,025. The S&P 500 has dropped two ticks to 1,200.

The CDNX is sticking with the TSE today, down 12 points to 3,122. Volume is light again at 11 million shares.

Techs are leading the way down, while oils are up and mines are down. Pan Asia Mining Corp is the top trader, down 25% to just 3¢ on 531,000 shares traded.